Durant also began to make a fuss, the Suns infighting escalated, and the coach was not far away

After losing 114-128 to the Mavericks on Christmas Day, the Suns have lost three in a row, losing five of their last six games, and from last month's seven-game winning streak to Durant's face full of frustration, what happened to the Suns in the space of a month.

The Suns finished 3-8 in December and fell to the brink of the 11th play-off tournament in the West. Before the Christmas war, the American media broke out that Durant was already very depressed in the Suns. Well-known reporter Woshen revealed, "The personnel on the Suns can feel Durant's frustration, and the reasons include Beal's absence, the Suns team was originally built around KD, Beal and Booker, but in order to get the big deal made by Durant and Beal, the team can only sign some base salary players." They also know they lack trade chips to boost this team. The Suns' championship window is very short, and Durant is still at his best level and healthy. They must bear fruit, and they need to do so as soon as possible. ”

Beal has only played 6 games this season and is recovering from injury with a high salary, averaging 25.2 minutes per game, scoring only 14.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 44.9% shooting, 42.9% three-point shooting, the Big Three have been together for a total of 24 minutes, Beal has suffered a back strain and an ankle sprain, and will be re-evaluated in early January.

In June of this year, the Suns traded 12 for 3 to get Beal + Goodwin + Todd, and sent Paul + Shamet + 6 second-round picks + 4 first-round pick swaps (2024, 2026, 2028, 2030) + cash. The Suns' three stars, Durant, Booker and Beal, occupy a huge salary space, with Durant at $47.65 million, Beal at $46.74 million, and Booker at $36.02 million.

The huge salary pressure and the fact that Durant is 35 years old have made the Suns very anxious, and the schedule is nearly halfway through, and the team's big three have not fully coordinated a game.

Durant complained about the team's incomplete roster before Eric Gordon complained about the lack of ball, and Gordon expressed his frustration with the team's lack of involvement in the team's offense during a recent postgame game for the Suns. The recent spate of negative news about the Suns reflects the turmoil within the team.

The recent dissatisfaction of the players has been reflected in the game, Adu played unusually negative in the Christmas game, and the cooperation with his teammates was cut off, Adu took 11 shots and made 6 mistakes. The Suns were hesitant to attack, and the Suns deliberately let the role players shoot more in the opening game, Gordon and Grayson-Allen opened with three points in a row, but the Suns still had to rely on Durant to play alone, and KD faced the defender to pull three points.

In the third quarter, Adu's shots were suppressed to only 1, and many times KD was watching his teammates attack, whether it was passive slacking or the Suns couldn't find a way to attack.

The atmosphere in the Suns team is weird now, at the beginning of the second half, Booker yelled at Metu after his mistake, you make a mistake and don't defend it?

The data of Durant and Booker are good, KD averaged 30.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and the three-point shooting rate reached 46.9%, Booker averaged 27.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game this season.

With so many shooters in the Suns, how do they distribute the ball, and in this game, Durant deliberately wanted his teammates to shoot more. Allen took 22 shots, Booker took 14 shots, substitute Metu took 18 shots, and Eric Gordon took 12 shots, all more than Durant. Putting his own core scorer is not used, this is obviously the result of the coach's mistakes and internal compromises, the appearance of such data, itself is the biggest problem and the coach's dereliction of duty, occasionally one or two role players can play like this when they feel hot, but Durant only made 11 shots in the whole game?

Looking at the Mavericks on the opposite side, Doncic's other teammates scored a total of 78 points, and the Suns' players except Booker and Durant also scored 78 points, but Doncic's 25 shots alone equaled the number of shots made by Booker and Durant. Doncic's 50 points are 14 more than the 36 points scored by Durant and Booker combined.

Suns coach Vogel has been questioned about how to deal with star coexistence during this period. Vogel said that the owner Ishbia has always been very supportive of the team and will communicate with him many times about the team's affairs. The Suns fired former coach Monty Williams, who led the Suns to the Finals in 2021 and was named the 2021-22 head coach of the season, after losing to the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals last year. In order to hit a championship, the Suns are demolishing and firing the best coach in several years.

More than a third of the season has passed, let alone championships, and it's hard to say that Solar can't make the playoffs. During the seven-game winning streak, the Suns also knew how to play and are now in the abyss. In contrast, the Clippers solved the coexistence of the Big Four, the Lakers knew that a trade was imperative, and the Suns were like a pulp, and the internal friction began.